A devastating new report shows that eight in 10 of Britain’s nuclear test ­veterans went on to develop multiple medical conditions.

And three in four of the men who survived atomic blasts in the 1950s fear their health was ­damaged due to being used as ­human guinea pigs for Cold War scientists.

A survey by the Ministry of Defence shows 83 per cent have since developed ­between two and nine ­serious long-term ­illnesses. Some have more than 10.

Asked if they believe their health had been affected by being at a nuclear test site, 28 per cent said they were certain it had, 23 per cent thought it had and 24 per cent said it may have done – a total of 75 per cent. Only eight per cent said it definitely had not.

The study, the first MoD funded-research since 1993, vindicates 10 years of campaigning by the Sunday Mirror which has highlighted the ­crippling legacy of ill health veterans have suffered. Many have developed cancers and rare medical complaints.

Studies have shown they have six times the national rate of ­leukaemia and 10 times the rate of birth defects among their children.

It was only after massive pressure from the veterans and this newspaper that the last government finally agreed to fund a £412,000 study into their health.

SPENDING SLASHED

The Coalition slashed the spend to £75,000 but 633 veterans still came forward to answer questions developed by two doctors with the British Nuclear Test Veterans’ ­Association.

The survey shows only 18 per cent of those polled are in “good health” and of those with a serious condition, only 16 per cent thought it was because of other than radiation.

Veterans made a series of demands in the study, including a medical centre, better access to service medical records and a detailed ­genetic study of their descendants.

But experts did not look at ­the illnesses of ­vets’ children and grandchildren, saying the evidence was “of too ­variable a quality”.

Around 22,000 men, many on ­National Service, were sent to witness bomb tests in Australia, America and on Christmas Island in the South Pacific.

They were ordered to turn their back and put their hands over their eyes then turn and watch the mushroom cloud. Only 3,000 are thought to still be alive.

Campaigning MP John Baron said: “This research is the first of its kind to show the ­deficiencies of how we treat our nuclear test veterans and it’s good it has been carried out at last. We must make sure the ­Government acts on its recommend­ations.”

Veterans Minister Andrew Robathan admitted to the Sunday Mirror he hadn’t even read the report yet. “I will be seeing it on Monday,” he added...then complained we had disturbed his weekend.

Archie Ross was on Christmas Island when the biggest bomb, codenamed Grapple Y, was set off.

He'd liked to have taken part in the latest study but was told he'd missed the deadline.

He said: "It's great the study's been done but just like everything else they'll stick it in a filing cabinet and hope we forget it."

Archie, 77, was a corporal in the RAF. He later he became a father, but his daughter Julie was born with a deformed arm. One of his grandchildren has Down's syndrome and he has an eye condition himself.

'I lost a son & husband'

Muriel McCormack had seven children with husband Kenneth, a corporal who had been stationed on a ship off Western Australia when Britain detonated its first nuclear bomb in 1952.

Their eldest son Peter died of cancer at the age of 28, another two children had severe eye defects and two more developed breathing conditions.

Kenneth died a year after his son, aged just 48, after a series of heart attacks.

Muriel, of Birmingham, said: "I'm sure that both of their deaths were related to the radiation Kenneth that absorbed."